Tactical Unit: The TV Movies (2008-09)

Tactical Unit: The TV Movies (2008-09)

Dirs. Various (see below)

Note: Five TV Movies that followed Johnnie To's PTU (2003). You don't need to have seen PTU in order to follow the story of each TU movie, but it might be helpful and it's such a good film that I feel compelled to encourage a viewing, anyhow.

Tactical Unit TV Movies in the order released:

01. In Tactical Unit: The Code (2008), directed by Wing-Cheong Law, three members of the PTU are captured on CCTV while beating up a civilian (i.e., crook), but the picture is grainy and their faces aren't clear. While an internal division that deals with corrupt cops tries to uncover the truth, the guilty trio hunt for the one man who can identify them: the man that they left bleeding in an alley. Ultimately, it's a race against time for both parties.

If, like me, you're not fluent in any Chinese dialect, be aware that the included English subtitles aren't always grammatically accurate, but we're lucky to have received a western DVD release of the five films at all, so I'm not going to bemoan the spelling errors and frequent mixed tenses too much. And frankly, I've endured a lot worse over the years.

02. In Tactical Unit: No Way Out (2009), directed by Lawrence Ah-Mon, much of the focus is on Fai (Derek Tsang), a small-time pedlar of illegally imported cigarettes. The PTU abuse him until he has no choice but to work for them, which puts him in the line of fire of Triad gangs.

Fai and his friend Cheung Man Wai (Wu Li) are the heart of the story. The careful sensitivity by which their relationship is shown is the most crucially affecting aspect. The performances of both Tsang and Li under pressure are genuinely amazing. But sensitive viewers be warned, there are some immensely harrowing scenes in the second half.

03. Tactical Unit: Human Nature (2009). Directed by Andy Ng, the third film is mostly PTU member Tong's story. His gambling debts are out of control and his decision to go to a loan shark was a bad one; he's now in over his head, suffocating from the need to get cash quick or lose the last shred of his dignity. The rest of the team have their own problems with gang dealings in scattered locations across the city. The two things eventually find common ground.

The scenes between Tong (Suet Lam) and Sam (Simon Yam) are few but still the best, most powerful sections of the instalment, where the differences between suspecting the truth and actually knowing it are measured in honourable actions.

04. Tactical Unit: Comrades in Arms (2009), directed by Wing-Cheong Law, starts out with a superb scene wherein the geography of the city itself sets the tone perfectly for a deeper exploration of the dangerous rivalry that exists between Sam and May (Maggie Shiu) and the men that serve under their command.

They're later shipped out of the city, into a mountainous region on the trail of a gang of bank robbers, so even the locale tests them, forcing them to be ever-alert to the other's attempts at one-upmanship. The individual parts of the story aren't complex, but they're nicely arranged and the way in which they all come together is extremely satisfying to watch. Indeed, it's not until that moment that the real power of the film hits.

05. In Tactical Unit: Partners (2009), directed by Lawrence Ah-Mon, the teams get lumbered with a new recruit who's eager to please but too inexperienced to rely on. A tense altercation outside a disco exposes his insecurities, which eventually leads to a shit-storm, as you'd expect.

A youth with both Chinese and Indian parentage features heavily. His story isn't bad, but overall it's the first of the TV movies to feel more like a standard weekly drama in which the PTU are a part, as opposed to an organic extension of the original film. May and Sam at the same table is a sight to see, though; and elsewhere, while on patrol, their ability to convey an entire scene's worth of dialogue while not actually saying anything is as good as ever.